Disability advocate Stella Young has some important arguments in favour of the disability scheme. Source: news.com.au

JULIA Gillard is considering increasing the Medicare levy to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Disability advocate Stella Young explains why we should stump up $300.

The question of how we fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme is one one that I've managed to avoid for the past year. It’s an insulting question for me and the many other Australians with disabilities.

It’s hard to think about dollars when it may mean how many showers we get to have per week, or whether we can get mobility aid that will let us to leave our houses.

But with the Budget just two weeks away, we need to address the question. We must fund this scheme somehow.

Typically, every man and his guide dog has an opinion, including news.com.au’s Matt Young and Claire Porter. “How selfish of me to want to spend money that I’m working hard for on myself! To put clothes on my back, food in my mouth and a few luxuries like a morning coffee,” Matt exclaims.

The amount and type of funding you receive to have your needs met depends on where and how you acquired your impairment. There’s a dark joke among many of us who were born with our impairments: “If only my parents could have made it look like a car accident”.

I’m actually incredibly fortunate for someone in my position. With half of all people with disabilities in Australia living near or below the poverty line, I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to be able to save up for my own wheelchair in the first place, let alone sip my morning latte.

I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t about you, it’s about people like me. You’re wrong. Disability currently affects one in every five Australians. 95 per cent of Australians will enter the disability community, either temporarily or permanently, at some point in their lives.

Last year I forked out for my chair so that I can continue to work and live. I did it so that I can pay taxes. So that means if there’s a levy for the disability scheme, I will have the honour of paying for it too.

We should all be thrilled to see it. If you have a stroke at 40, you won’t become one of the 7,000 young people living in nursing homes in Australia.

If your partner is injured in a car accident, their rehabilitation and mobility aids won’t send you bankrupt.

You won’t have to give up work to look after them. You’ll know that if you have children and one of them is born with an impairment of some kind, that child will be entitled to a life of dignity, rather than one reliant on charity and the goodwill of others.

I’m happy to pay $300 a year to ensure that whatever your life circumstances turn out to be, you can continue to buy your morning coffees instead of your own wheelchair.

Disability advocates in Australia have fought for a National Disability Insurance Scheme not just for our own futures, but for yours too. You’re welcome.

Have your say

Comments on this story

Stella of Brisbane Posted at 5:52 PM April 30, 2013

"95 per cent of Australians will enter the disability community, either temporarily or permanently, at some point in their lives."
Where does this bit of information come from. No reference, no back up, and you hide behind your disability in the hopes that you can evade criticism- who would dare pick on the disabled? Pathetic.

Brett of Adelaide Posted at 5:52 PM April 30, 2013

Many of the disabled can work with their disability. Many employers are willing to compromise and make concessions but the DSP is high enough when combined with discount housing to medicine and transport, to live a relatively comfortable life. I have a disability - Bipolar, but I still work. I take more days off than most but I still earn my own money and pay tax. If 1 in 5 is disabled, and x amount is too young to work, studying or too old to work. Who is left to tax to pay for it all. It is not sustainable. It will eventually fall down. Then the Gov will have to make decisions what to cut.. medicare ? Education ? Hospitals or even infrastructure ? Money doesn't grow on trees. You need to get out and earn it !

Ashley of Darwin Posted at 5:51 PM April 30, 2013

$22,000 for a wheelchair? Really? a basic wheelchair? A brand new car can be bought for less...
If you want all the bells and whistles you can stump the cost of it yourself. The government should only assist you getting the minimum you require to be mobile.

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